No Sugar DIY Energy Bars for the Road

Stay heathy while backpacking

Road is unpredictable beast be it earth or sky and it’s really hard to know whenyou are getting your next meal. The key is to have some quality snacks on you like these DIY energy bars. I’m talking not just snacks that will not stuff your belly, butwill provide you with energy. Nuts, dried fruit, that’s what you want to eat on the road. And here is a recipe for just that!

PREP: 5-10 min | COOK: 10 min | READY IN: 45 min

DIY Energy Bars are super easy and fast. Preparation basically includes gathering and measuring the ingredients you will need. Cooking is food processing all the ingredients (I have a small food processor, so I have to do it in several batches). Finally you need to give it some freezer time so that you can cut into smaller pieces. That’s it!

You will need:

1 cup pitted dates (if your dates are dry, you will need more, as they are the glue)

1 cup almonds or hazelnuts (or any other that you’ve got in your cupboard)

1/2 cup dried apricots

1/2 cup dried cranberries (you can supplement it with other dried berries, just make sure you use sour berries, as dates give plenty of sweet)

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

2 Tablespoons chia seeds

Depending on how large you want it, it makes about 12 DIY energy bars.

Mix and Chop

Depending on how large (and powerful) your food processor add all of half of all the ingredients and chop them until you have a sticky paste. Note, that if you try to chop dates, they get very sticky, so it’s a good idea to mix various ingredients together and only then the mixture becomes ‘choppable’.

If your mixture is too dry and does not hold together, add dates. Now if you feel it’s too sticky, add nuts.

Freeze the mixture

Place the mixture on baking paper or film and into a dish about 18-20 cm long and wide. Use your fingers to form the mixture into a square.

Place it into the freezer to chill until it becomes firm enough to cut it the DIY energy bars you want to have.

Slice and Enjoy!

I slice bars into different size bars leaving some very small, so that I can grab the size I feel like. Note, that even though they look small, these DIY energy bars are quite powerful, so make a short break in between bars.